Flexible hair drying hood



July 10, 1962 F( J. MILLER FLEXIBLE HAIR DR YING HOOD Filed May 21, 1958I INVENTOR.

ATTORNEYS F ig. 4

ite tae 3,@43,016 FLEXELE HA& DRYING HOOD a Frances 3. milet', 801 12thNW., Canton, Ohio Filed May 21, 1958, Ser. No. 736,794 1 Ciahn. (Ci.34-99) In general, in connection with hair dryers of the elec-- trictype used particularly in commercial beauty salons by a beautician, itis a real problem to successfully dry hair. Problems have arisen inconnection with thick hair, thin hair, hair that burns, wind hurnproblems when hot air comes down the face, parching of skin, and thelike. Although there have been numerous solutions to these problems,none of them have received -any real commercial accepta-nce. This isimportant because the quautity of heat used in these dryers has causedconsiderab le annoy ance to many women and they have been reluctant touse them. In additon to this, of course, there is the time factor.

This invention is directed to a flexible hair dryer hood, which could becalled a comfort hood" for fastening around in a head encircling band,perhaps 18 inches in circumference, more or less, and enlarging out to ahood or tubular member of two or three times that over a central sectionand contracting to a further contractile band adapted to touch the dryerbell or dome, by which name it is sometimes known, general ly on theother side of the support member.

This comfort hood, though tubular in shape, would have a series offastening means, perhaps snap fasteners, along one seam adapted tosurround the connection and support connection for the dome or dryerbell. In addition, of course, it is customary to use ear shields and thelike to protect the Womens ears from the circulating In general therehave been many approaches to directed or controlled `air to the hair,together with shields for the ears. Some of these have used perviousnets to permit the air laden with moisture to pass out through a net.Others have provided directed shields to prevent the air from coming tothe face of a Woman sitting under a dryer.

This invention is directed towards a generally tubular hood, thoughperhaps it would be more correct to call it a truncated cone. Whenenclosed and snap fastened along an axial seam, it would be per-haps 18or 20 inches in circumference around the head band, and a largercircumference, perhaps 24 inches, for attachment to the bell.

An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved em'ble hairdrying hood for attachment as a head piece to the head of a woman and tothe d'ying bell or hood and also to provide improved circulation of airaround the head and escape of moisture thereh'om.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedcomfort hood having an elasticized connection in a head piece and afurther elasticized connection around the dome or bell of the dryer andan enlarged intermediate section that expands and provides improvedcirculation of air around the head and escape of moisture therethrough.

A further object of this invention is to provide a new and improvedtubular fiexi'ble hair dryer of impervious material having anelasticized head band of reduced diameter and a further elasticizeddryer connection and an axial seam with fastening means therefor aroundthe con-' dryer piece.

To the -accomplishment of the foregong and related.

ends, said invention then consists of the means heroin- -after fullydescribed and particularly pointed out in the claim; the followingdescription setting forth in detail but one approved means of carryingout the invention, such disolosed means, however, constituting but oneof the various ways in which the principles of the invention may beused.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side View of a woman showing my new and improved hood inposition on a dryer;

FIG. 2 is 'a rear View of said hood;

FIG. 3 is a view of the impervious material with the elasticzed bandsstretched to show the general trapezoidal nature of the imperv-iousmaterial making up the hood;

FIG. 4 is a rear view of the hood itself before being distended by theair of the dryer; and

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view along the line 5-5 of FIG. 4 showingthe varying diameters of the center section and the head piece.

In the drawings, FIG. 1 shows a side view of an electrically heateddryer indicated generally at 10 having a stand 11 and` a connecting barthereto 12 With an electrical connection 13'. The dryer bel-l or domemay be of any shape -as indicated at 14 having an end portion 15, a sideportion perhaps conical in shape 16 and a recessed portion indicatedgenerally at 17 into which the head normally fits.

The -invention herein -involves a hood member 18 of generally tubularconstruction and of consider-able diameter having a contractile portionor elasticized end member generally shown at 19 and a furtherelasticized portion and cushioning adapted for the head band or headencircling band 20. The center portion generally indicated at 21 wouldbe or' considerably larger circumference and, of course, diameter thanthe head band or dryer band portion. This permits `a free flow of airoutwardly and around to the sides so that all of the portions of thehead, near the forehead and the back of the neck may be dried and airmay circulate freely within the hood member. This also permits easymovability of the head so that the head may be turned as much asone-quarter turn to either side, and the series of pleat-l'ke units orwrinldes formed by the contracting of the head band 20 -as shown at 21will permit twisting and movement of the head. Slits of buttonholedesign may be placed -at positions on the hood to make easy access toswitches or heat controls.

Normally movement of the head in a dryer is very restricted and freedomto talk and to read is greatly reduced. Also there is considerabledanger of burning and parching of the skin of a person in a normal dryerand though various efforts 'have been made in the past to control theair by using earmufis and various types of hoods as disclosed in thepatents to Wright, Patent No. 2,295,82(), to Stephen, Patent No.2,290,455, to McElroy, Patent No. 1,796,384, to Rufiio, Reissue PatentNo; 17,447, to Coune, Patent No. 1,543,423, to Brown, Patent No.1,698,533, to Pfahl, Patent No. 1,907,215, to Broida et al., Patent No.1,955,941, and to Huber et al., Patent No. 2,576,226, all of these havecertain limitations to be more fully explained. A

This invention consists of a hood which is particularly characterized byfreedom of action, by adaptability to a great number of dryer bells orhoods, by controlled cir- I the bands.

p 3 culation of the air with a of air in order to prevent 'build-up ofmoisture theren,

' andby a free flow of 'air around the back of the neck so that there isan even drying of the hair. r

The unit is further char-acterized by having an axial seam indicatedgeneral ly at 24 'With a series of snap fasteners, tie strings and/ orother means, such as a zipper 'at 25. This may be connected from eitherend of the dryer ,the like and special openings may he provided tocontact or move these switches or Controls `as desired. i

The unit in connection with FIG. 3 would have a dryer band 19, a heaidband 20, the ani al seam cut in a trapezoid as seen at 24, fastenermeans 25, whchmay -be snap fasteners, hooks, etc., and elasticized means27 in each of. The hood is adapted to be snap fastened around 'aroundthe dryer and similarly connected around the connection 12 to the dryer,:leaving 'a certain amount of openings for the free passage of airtherethrough' from the dryer but controlling the amount of air thatleaves the dryer, and then the snap fasteners are continued until theytightly conform with the head.

limited amount of elmination of the invention. All of these varationsand modifications'are considered to 'be the t rue spirit and scope ofthe present invention as disclosed in the foregoing description anddefined by the appended claim.

I claim:

In combination, an electric 'circulating hair dryer having anoutW-ardlyflarng dome of a dimension adapted to surrond a person's head and aconnection thereto, a

sheet `defining a pleated tubular hood structure of imperforate heatresistant fabric radially gripping the exterior of said dome and having-a contractile band for the dorne above the connection thereto, an openaxial seam on the tubular hood structure with fastening means thereforaround the connection definng a variable 'sized air pasi by causesimproved heating and 'circulation of air within With this comfort hoodconfining the' the dryer, considerahle freedom of movement isprovided,as Well .as less burning and parching of the skin, less opportunity fordiscomort and at the same time greatly increased speed of drying so thatthe woman using the device is not inconvenienced for as 'long a time andcan' go outside even on a cold day'wthout fear of. catohing cold. t

The material ofwhich this hood is made` would be impervious materialresistant to the normal drying heat' and of a good gradeof plastic orplasticized fahrics, etc.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with afew preferred embodiments thereof, variations .and modifications may beresorted to by those skilled in the artwithout departing from .theprinciples the space enclosed by thetubular center section and the endof said hood opposite said 'dome which is out of the direct path of aircirculation from the dome so that When the elasticized band on the endof the hood opposite said dome is placed over wet hair on the head of aperson, it effectively dries all of the :hair thereon including the hairadjacent the 'lower cranial lobes. i

V References Cited in thefile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Brown--j-an. 21, 1953

